U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced during the 29-minute reporting window ending at 12:45 p.m. UTC on January 3, 2026, that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores stand indicted in the Southern District of New York on narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machineguns and destructive devices, and related charges, following their capture by U.S. military in Caracas, according to Bondi's statements on X. Bondi stated Maduro and Flores "will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts," thanking President Trump for demanding accountability and U.S. military personnel for the "incredible and highly successful mission to capture these two alleged international narco traffickers," per her X posts shared just before 12:45 p.m. UTC. Reports indicated U.S. Air Force strikes hit La Carlota Air Base in Caracas during related operations, destroying at least one Russian-made 9K317E Buk-M2E air defense system, according to an X post by war_noir in the reporting window. Separately, 12 F-22s from Roosevelt Roads in Puerto Rico assisted strikes alongside F-35s and EA-18Gs, per X user LatAmMilMVMTs. These developments follow U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio's confirmation to Senator Tom Cotton earlier at 12:15 p.m. UTC that Maduro was in U.S. custody in Caracas for trial on similar charges from a nearly six-year-old indictment, as stated in Cotton's X post.
